


Outpost

by cferre



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 03:38:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13872309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cferre/pseuds/cferre
Summary: Babe and Guarnere still have one hour of surveillance in the outpost before the relief arrives and they can go to sleep, or at least try if the Germans leave them.





	Outpost

The snow doesn’t stop falling. Soft and dry. It was like a dense curtain of rain. The white mantle began to accumulate, did not cease to increase: 15 cm, 25 cm, 35 cm. The temperature dropped abruptly, fairly below zero degrees, and began to blow an icy wind, even in the forest. Babe shivered at his outpost, he had never been so cold in his life. Shivering was like breathing. Uncontrollable and unavoidable.

“Now that Christmas is coming, I’m going to ask for winter clothes. You know: uniform, boots, wool socks and underpants.” Babe was trembling as he spoke and his teeth were chattering because of the cold. His clothing consisted of parachute boots, which were permanently wet, combat uniform and raincoat. No wool socks, scarf, gloves or coats. “You think they’ll give it to me.”

“You should ask, for this, the fog to lift or Santa Claus won’t find you.” Bill Guarnere was cursing at his side, trying to put himself in a more comfortable position. “What are you going to ask for me?”

“A fucking shower, you smell horrible. Go over there.” Babe pushed him slightly. Guarnere laughed and clung more to one of his best friends there. He tried to hug him while Babe rejected him laughing. He kept trying to get away from him, although he could not because of the small space in which they were.

“Come on, Babe, a goodnight kiss.” Guarnere scoffed. “You know you want to.”

From the closet outposts they wondered why they laughed so much and what was so funny that happened at the front. They did not see anything. They passed the time counting Germans soldiers, as much as not to get bored so as not to fall asleep. Some others asked for silence, they were afraid that the Germans could find them.

They heard a noise behind them that made them stop laughing and joking all at once. They turned around, they were clinging to their rifles, with fear in their faces, for being able to be surprised by Germans, with all the muscles in tension. Had they been too distracted and the Germans had crossed their defensive lines and managed to surprise them? They sighed deeply, relaxing at once and letting go of the rifles; was Eugene Roe.

“I change a blanket for morphine, bandages or scissors.” He looked at both boys, begged desperately. “You have something of Holland?”

“Not at all, Doc. Nothing. But we accept the blanket.” Eugene smiled and handed them the blanket. They looked pretty horrible. Deplorable. Like everyone there. They shivered, had a red nose, tried to snuggle with themselves as much as they could to keep the body warm, rubbed their hands every five seconds and tried to hide inside their uniform without success. “I’m still cold, my whole bottom is wet, it’s like I pissed on myself.”

“Do not talk to me about pissing, when I piss it’s like pissing pins.” Said annoyed, Guarnere. Suddenly, his eyes widened. He looked back, Eugene was still there, he was laughing. He finished connecting his reasoning and thoughts. Eugene was the doctor of the Easy Company, for something they called him Doc. “Eugene, it hurts me a lot when I pee, it’s as if I was pissing pins.” He said again, but now by way of explanation and not of regret.

“I’m sorry, Bill. I do not have penicillin. I do not even have bandages.” Protest. How they wanted him to save their lives if he had nothing.

“And do you have tobacco, Doc? We have nothing.”

“Yes, I have.” He was still lying on the snow, wetting the front of his uniform. Like his companions, his nose was red and he did not stop shaking.

“Come in, Doc, we make room for you.” Babe stepped aside so Eugene could get inside with him and be somewhat more protected. “If something stinks, it’s Guarnere. It’s been a long time since his last shower.” Babe mocked again. Guarnere could not hit him now. Eugene was in the middle, he had to take advantage of it. He glanced at Eugene to see if he had made him laugh. He had tried since he had met him in England, he had promised. Before the end of the war he would get him to laugh out loud. He saw a hint of a smile. Something was something. Better than nothing, he was on the right track.

Eugene rummaged in all his pockets; he could not remember which of them had kept his packets of tobacco. To the fourth he guessed right, although he was sure that there he had already looked and it had seemed to him that there was nothing. He distributed one to each partner and took one for himself, too. Guarnere had, in hand, the fire ready. If they could see through the ceiling of the shooter’s pit, they could see an infinitely starry sky. Although they were tired of seeing it, they wanted to see a damn roof and be truly covered, and protected, to sleep peacefully. Apart from a pleasant temperature and do not die of cold every second.

“How are de others doing?” Guarnere asked, curios.

“Well, Toye has no boots, the Germans have blown them in the last bombing.” He took the cigar to his lips, looked at his hands fixedly, could not keep quiet because of the low temperatures, it seemed that they were dancing. “There are not enough blankets for everyone, there are many with trench feet, Lieutenant Dike has disappeared again.” Babe faked a yawn imitating Lieutenant Dike. Guarnere laughed without hiding, Eugene shook his head, seemed to smile too, but Babe was not sure because he was smoking and his hand covered his lips. “I do not find morphine, scissors or bandages anywhere and Bill pisses pins. Oh, and they still do not know when they can supply us.”

“Not bad considering that two hours ago they bombarded us.” Guarnere nodded ironic.

At nightfall, the ominous silence was suddenly broken by the explosion of the projectiles that launched the German mortars, followed by the cries of pain of the wounded and the calls to occupy the positions before the eventuality that an attack took place. Then, again the ominous silence fell on the frozen field and forest. The projectiles that exploded against the trees caused a rain of splinters, branches, pieces of trunks and metal on the improvised trenches, joined the snow. What tensed the nerves of the men was the absolute inability of the American artillery to respond to the German bombing or to interrupt the enemy’s activity. Although, without a doubt, the worst of all was living with the uncertainty of not knowing when the Germans would attack again.

“And on the front, how everything goes”

“Well, in the hour that we have been here, we have seen the fire of the fucking krauts, they have hot meals. You can believe it, they eat hot meals. We’re trying to guess what they eat. Do you want to play, Doc?” If Bill Guarnere had a German soldier in front of him, right then, he would have killed him with a single punch.

During the day, the men of the Easy Company, who had to be at the outposts, watched with envy German trucks and tanks moved freely behind the German lines, bringing the ammunition and food that the Americans missed so much.

"We can smell it from here. Fucking krauts." Swear Babe, his eyes were fixed on the front when he said that, tried to kill them with his eyes. "You’ll see, concentrate a bit, Doc. You’re going to smell it."

Despite being black night, the sky lit up once more, for a few seconds it was as if it were still daylight. It happened frequently, night after night. The Germans were throwing tracer bullets, looking for their position. Everyone knew what that meant, they would be under a hail of explosions, as if it were a Fourth of July, but unlike that day of celebration, they would beg to see a new dawn and that there would be no loss of their comrades, although they knew that was impossible.

“Spina told me you made a new friend, Babe”

Eugene commented as if nothing had happened, as if a tracer bullet had not crossed the sky above them. But he was not the only one who had ignored it. Everyone did it. At first if it made them nervous, it interrupted completely what they were doing and made them restless and fearful waiting for the attack of the Germans. Now it was as if it were one more element of nature. They had become accustomed. They just had to be a little more alert. Babe laughed as he remembered what had happened that morning.

“A new friend? You have not told me that, Babe. I thought we told everything to each other.” Guarnere pretends to be annoyed.

“I promise you it means nothing to me, we just met.” Babe followed the game. Eugene looked from one of his companions to the other. Like it was tennis’ match. Babe would put his hand on the fire. He assured himself that what he saw in Eugene’s face was a smile. “A part, our families would not accept it. He’s German.” He said as if it broke his heart.

“You want me to change places, I leave you alone and you can discuss it in privacy.” Silence for a few seconds. Laughter. From a nearby outpost they asked for silence imitating a siphon. More laughs. “He told me his name was Hinkle.”

“Hinkle? What kind of name is that?” Asked Guarnere without understand nothing.

Babe laughed and with one hand he wiped the feeling of having his snot sliding down to his lips. The sky lit up again. A new tracer bullet. They looked up to see how far it would go this time. Babe took out three new cigars, divided two among his companions and one remained for him. It was still snowing. In other shooter pits they also spoke to release tension. Sergeant Rader and Hoobler were from the same city on the banks of the Ohio River, they talked about family, home, people and how they got into this bloody mess. Spina discussed with Liebgot about politics, about the world’s problems and how to solve them. Muck and Penkala were talking about alcohol, the first alcoholic drink they would drink when they could, and the first hot meal they would eat. Malarkey and Tony talked about going home and of the first thing they would do when they returned to see their families, Smokey and Luz laughed at everything and everyone.

“But you’re going to tell me what happened, or not.” Asked Guarned.

“I fell in the trench of a German soldier. It was covered in snow and nothing could be seen because of the fog. It seemed at night and it was morning. Spina and I have been lost when we went this morning for medical supplies. We were freezing, so i suggested we try a shortcut through the woods. Was a bad idea. We were trying to figure out where the hell we were when suddenly i fell into a hole.” Babe explained between laughs just to remember it. Eugene laughed under his nose, he already knew the story. He raised his uniform jacket to protect his face a little from the cold, although he did not know very well why, he would remove it again so that he could smoke comfortably. Bill Guarnere looked baffled at Babe for what he was explaining. It was incredible. Falling inside the trench of a German soldier. “Spina laughed at me, the German soldier had not spoken yet and suddenly we heard him say Hinkle, Hinkle, its das du. And me, what the fuck Hinkle, fucking kraut. Hinkle your fucking mother. I scrambled out of that foxhole while I yelled. And we ran away before he could shoot us. Although it took me a while to get out of the hole, I could not get out and Spina laughed without stopping and without helping me, at first. When we saw the German, my heart stopped. I swear it.” Guarnere had started to laugh, he controlled himself not to laugh out loud.

Eugene Roe shook his head, those things could only happen to Babe, and explain them as if it was nothing extraordinary but something that could happen to you on a normal day, it was also something that only he could do. Because who has not fallen into the trench of a German soldier in the middle of a war.

“We’ll charge you a rent, you’ve been in our hole for more than ten minutes.” Guarnere joked, although having the company doctor with them made him feel calm. If they flew through the air they would be the first to be taken care of.

“Money, sex or tobacco.”

"Give it all to me, Doc.” The boys laughed. Babe checked if he had won the bet, but no. Eugene did not finish laughing, they were all smiles, light laughter, but no real laughter.

Joe Toye did not like the silence at night between the mortar attacks. They made him nervous, they made him tense, rigid, with his eyes extremely open, as if they were going to come out of their sockets; and he could not relax, any noise made him take the rifle and aim. To break the silence and calm down a bit, Joe Toye sang. “Will Be Seeing You” was his favourite song. Joe Toye was in an outpost near the one of Babe and Guarnere, that now they shared with Eugene, it was as if they had a private concert.

“No doubt he’s a better soldier than a singer, god, it looks like they’re killing a pig.” Babe complained, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

“Toye, we have enough with mortars to suffer, shut up.” Guarnere shouted at him.

“I’ll be seeing you in every lovely summer’s day. In everything that’s light and gay. I’ll always think of you that way. “ Sang Toye, dedicating it to Guarnere.

“Now, sure, that the Germans will succeed. They do not need tracer bullets anymore.” Babe scoffed. His head was very close to Eugene Roe’s; he shared jokes especially with him, even though he said it loud enough so the closest shooter’s wells would listen to him. They answered with laughter and Toye with more verses of the song.

Again, they asked for silence with the siphon from a trench. They made bets on who could be. But, suddenly, something suddenly made everyone fall silent and feared a new bombing. It was a new tracer bullet in the sky, above their heads, coming from the Germans positions. They worried that their voices and laughter had attracted them. They remained static in their positions, attentive to the front and to any noise they heard. The minutes in which they waited for an answer were the longest they had ever lived. The beats of their hearts resounded in their heads as if they were being reproduced by loudspeakers. It seemed as if time had stopped. They were no longer cold and thick drops of sweat were running down their faces. After almost half an hour and nothing happened they laughed, they laughed in silence and relaxed in their positions.

Babe and Guarnere looked at each other, laughing, nervous at the moment of tension they had just experienced, they nodded to leave the rifle both at once. They had agreed that for now the danger had passed. Eugene decided that it was time to continue his round, that he had entertained too much there with them. And although it weighed him, because he had minimally found a comfortable position and being between his two companions had been protected from the cold, but not too noticeable, left the outpost. Fifteen minutes later, the relay arrived.

Every two hours, the platoon sergeants woke two men from a shooter’s well and took them to the position of the outpost to relieve the men on duty. The trip to the outpost was always frightening. All the silhouettes were suspicious and any sound put them on alert. They went to the outpost with feet of lead and until they came to their position they could not stop thinking that the men who were in front of them, occupying their outposts, could be Germans who had reached them.

“Don’t forget it guys. Give me three days and three nights of hard fighting and then will be relieved. “Luz imitated General Taylor, while making the change with Guarnere and Babe. He was accompanied by Smokey. “Go with the little angels.”

“If the krauts leave us, we will do it, do not worry” Assured Guarnere to Luz. “Have fun.” He winked at them with a big smile, happy to leave the outpost.


End file.
